North Korea Says Not Bound By Missile Agreement

Kofi Annan said Kim Jong-Il (in file photo) 'has to be very careful not to create an even more complicated situation' (AFP)
June 20, 2006 -- North Korea says it is free to conduct missile tests amid international alarm that Pyongyang may have completed fueling a missile in advance of a long-range missile test.

Japanese media quoted North Korean Foreign Ministry official Li Byong Dok as saying Pyongyang's actions are not bound by a 2002 moratorium on ballistic-missile launches agreed to by North Korea and Japan.

And in Paris, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "I hope that the North Korean leader will hear and listen to what the whole world is saying: We are all worried. He has to be very careful not to create an even more complicated situation within the [Korean] Peninsula."

Meanwhile in Geneva, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said it is unclear whether Pyongyang has put fuel in its long-range Taepodong-2 missile, but the missile is apparently on a launching pad.